Farewell to Guangzhou

As long as these last two weeks have been away from our boys, it's also hard to believe that it's already time to go home. On our last day here, it was cold and rainy, so we had to get creative about burning some energy.;) So we spent much time going up and down the escalators

 And up and down and up and down the stairs!

We also had fun rolling the stroller around the room. Amanda had rides, her dolly had rides, and most interestingly, she had a blast giving rides to all of her cars! I think she's going to fit right in with her brothers!

Jack took us for a delicious farewell and good luck dim sum lunch - it was wonderful! We've been so blessed to have him as a guide through the adoption process, as a tour guide to show us the beauty of Guangzhou, and as a friend with whom we've had a fantastic vacation. 

It's been a really emotional day for me. While on one hand I'm thrilled that we'll finally be getting back home to our Austin and Jackson and having our whole family of 5 together at last, I'm also going to miss so many things about being here in China. I'll miss this fantastic hotel, with the amazing daily breakfast buffet, beautiful and comfortable suite (which was soooo worth the splurge, especially since we were here two weeks!), endless escalators and stairs to burn off Amanda's energy (!), and daily maid service (not gonna lie, I've thoroughly enjoyed having someone else make the bed!). I'll miss walking the streets of this city, with the smells of wonderful food from so many vendors and restaurants, the lights and bustle at night, and the friendliness of the people. I'll miss the beautiful parks, with their constant activity of roller-blading, hacky sack, badminton, card and chess games. But most of all, I'll miss being immersed in the culture of our little girl. A part of me is sad that we'll be taking her from the comforts of her language, food, and people. But I also take comfort in knowing that it's God's own plan to put her into our family, and I know that He has great things in store for her. 

So, it's on that note that I'm saying farewell to (and from!) Guangzhou. We head out for our 30-hour journey home at 6:30 am tomorrow. Please pray for a safe, smooth and uneventful trip - see you in the US!

We're Learning!

Today's activities started with our US Consulate appointment where we did a quick oath-taking ceremony and submitted some paperwork to apply for Amanda's US visa. Jack then showed us around the newest area of Guangzhou, which has really exploded just in the last 10 years.

It's fascinating to see how well the economy is doing here, as evidenced by so much growth in this area. And construction is continuing - lots of buildings are still going up, and they're also putting in a Mall of the World under this area you see here. We wished we could have strolled around more, but it was cold today (about 45 degrees this morning, which is about as cold as it gets here!)

I think we're learning as much from Amanda as she is from us. We've figured out some basic Chinese baby talk from her ;) like if you add "la" to the end of someone or something, it means "where is" to her. So if she says to me "BahBah la?", it means "where's Daddy?" - it's really come in handy! And we've discovered if we ask the same to her (i.e. "go-go la?" for "where's the doggie?" or "chi chuhr la?" for "where's the car?"), it's a surefire way to get her to point for us, which is also a fantastic distraction or redirection! We're learning new tricks like this every day. And she's learning too. This evening we had a breakthrough in her using her words. We've done a lot of walking around this city, either carrying her or holding her hand. One of our biggest struggles have been when she squirms and whines in our arms to get down, or when we're holding her hand she just sits down (doesn't matter where - she just sits whenever she's decided she's done walking). After several stand-offs like this today,

by the end of tonight we finally got her saying "down please" and "up please"! What a relief - I think everyone was about done with all of the charades! 

Amanda is soooo very smart, so she's been picking up things really quickly. Today her favorite new English word to say was "Hello!" - really loudly and over and over again. ;) As we were walking toward our elevators to go up to our room tonight, with a huge smile she brightly shouted "Hello!" to a woman walking by us. The woman returned the smile with an equally cheerful "Hello!" back - and we all completely died laughing because her timing couldn't have been more perfect! So, after lots of learning for all of us, we definitely ended the day on a great note! One more day here and we're headed home - and we will all be thrown into an entirely new learning curve!

Free time!

As a run-down of our day today, we went back to the Liu Hua park during the morning - letting Amanda do lots more stair-climbing and dog-watching. We probably walked about four or so miles, got some noodles to go on the way back ($4 to feed us both from our favorite noodle shop!), and then put Amanda down for her nap. This afternoon we did more walking and sight-seeing with Jack, soaking up some Guangzhou history. It's called the Goat City based on an old legend about fairies bringing rice to the city long ago while riding on goats. The fairies left, but the goats stayed. ;) This statue of the Five Goats was made about 50 years ago and is very famous - you see it on billboards and signs all over the city.

We saw the Chen Family Memorial, with all its beautiful carvings, and even had some amazing traditional Chinese tea. Jack asked that we could try some very special tea. The woman served us the most amazing tea I've ever had. Jack called it Monkey Oolong tea, named for the fact that the tea leaves grow high up on the side of a mountain and can only be accessed by monkeys. Not only that, it's so rare that no shops really even sell it (including hers). It had such incredible flavor! Amanda even got to have some of her own tea (which she loved!) - a pot of cooled-off jasmine tea.

Our final sightseeing stop for the day was Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Memorial Hall. He's from Guangzhou and very revered for being the "Father of the Nation" and was a unifying figure for China. Dinner followed with a delicious meal of noodles, dumplings, spicy beef, garlic green beans, and Chinese pancakes. A great end to another busy day!

We've really settled into quite a routine here. Jason starts his day with a run (while Amanda and I sleep!), everyone gets dressed, Skype with family, head down to the breakfast buffet and then out to appointments or sightseeing in the morning. Grab some lunch, back to the room to let Amanda nap (and sometimes we nap too!), and then an afternoon full of more walking around and sightseeing. It's beginning to feel less like we're parents trying to bond with our adopted child, and far more like we're just a family having a vacation. Amanda's adjusting so well to us that I'm already starting to forget that there was ever a time we were without her. God has been so good to us.

One Child

We've been doing as much exploring as we can while we're here, soaking in all the culture and traditions we can! This morning we headed back over to Shamian Island to get Amanda's TB test site checked (all clear!) and then shopping for me while BahBah and Amanda hit the playground - everyone was very happy! ;) We stopped by the White Swan Hotel before we left, which is where all adoptive families used to stay before they began renovations a few months ago. They have these beautiful red velvet couches in one of the lounge areas and it's been a long practiced tradition to take a picture of the adoptive child on the couch as a sign of good luck. So, after a lot of arguing about her itchy dress, we finally coaxed a quick smile out of Amanda - hopefully enough to bring us all the luck we need! ;)

The afternoons have held many adventures for us as we've been venturing out about as far as our legs will carry us in the areas surrounding our hotel. Yesterday we discovered a beautiful quiet area near the Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Foreign Language School. It was the perfect place to let Amanda run around and explore at her pace. The school is apparently an excellent private school, and the houses surrounding it are huge, single family, European-style houses where the rich and famous live!

This afternoon we found Luhu Park, which was HOPPING with activity. People were playing badminton, hacky sack, roller-blading, bike riding, and taking in the beautiful scenery.

 We've also discovered some of Amanda's most favorite things to do - go up and down (and up and down and up and down...) stairs

and spot dogs! She's obsessed with "go go's" (doggies) and must point to them anywhere and everywhere we go. The only problem is that she isn't at all comfortable with them anywhere near her. :) I think our dog, Meg, will be both her wildest dream and worst nightmare coming true!

So as we walk around this city, we're also struck by the fact that every family, every mother, and every father we ever see only has one child. We've asked our guide, and now friend, Jack, many questions about the one-child policy. The people of China don't like it at all, and the wealthiest have found ways around it (like going to Hong Kong to have an additional child). However, the vast majority of people have realized there's really no choice but to accept it. Not only that, but the law is so heavily enforced that neighbors, co-workers, and even friends will report a woman who gets pregnant with a second child. If a woman is working and gets caught by the government being pregnant with child #2, she gets fined, loses her job, and the entire company will lose their benefits for an entire year. So, in an effort to avoid this, companies require that all women have an ultrasound every three months to be sure they're not pregnant with a second child. Jack's wife works for a bank and must also adhere to this policy and has had ultrasounds through her work every 3 months since their 11-year-old daughter was born. Although the policy may have curbed the population growth in the last thirty years, the government is also beginning to realize the strain it's putting on the younger generations in taking care of their elder relatives. The policy will likely change in the future, but for now it still stands.

So, as we walk around this city of nearly 13 million people and I see so many parents with just one child, I think about our sweet daughter and wonder about her mother's circumstances. Was this her first child? Was it her second? Was it the heart condition or poverty or bureaucracy that caused her to give her daughter up for adoption? These are questions for which I'll never know the answers. So instead, I'll accept knowing that God placed her in our family for HIS perfect reasons.

Lions and Ligers and Bears, Oh My!

Since today was a totally free day (no government/adoption related activities), we hit the zoo. 

It was so much fun getting out and letting Amanda run around - all while seeing lots of brand new things! There were of course TONS of monkeys (which were a huge hit - Amanda loved watching the chimpanzees play), tigers and bears. Jason's and my favorite animal had to be the liger, though. Seriously, we really had no idea they actually existed! ;) Well, they do - and it was HUGE!

Apparently they only live in captivity - the two species don't ever actually cross in the wild. Huh - who knew??

Amanda's little pointer finger was going CRAZY in the zoo! Whenever she sees something new or that she's curious about, she points at it. Well, that was just about everything we saw today, so her finger must have been getting tired! 

Amanda repeated the names of all of the animals we saw- she got really good at saying "tiger" and "panda"! 

Overall it was a really fun trip, with only some small challenges when she wanted to go a different direction than we did - and we would expect nothing else from a nearly three-year-old! The excursion ended with Amanda's first real ride on BahBah's shoulders as we walked back to the van. At first she was pretty wary, so she kept a death-grip on Jason's ear, just in case. 

And yes, she sucks her thumb, just like her Mama did. ;) 

We got to watch the NYC ball drop on TV this afternoon at 1:00 pm here - so Happy New Year to EVERYONE now! ;)

Uneventful!

After such an emotional day yesterday, I'm pleased to report today was relatively uneventful! We met up with two other families this morning and headed over to Shamian Island to get Amanda's requisite medical examinations and TB test done. It was really all more of a formality, so we were in and out pretty quickly (especially considering there were at least 50 other families at the clinic with us!). We then walked around a bit down the quiet tree-lined streets, played for a while on a playground (sliding was GREAT fun!) and then headed to lunch at Lucy's (a very popular Americanized restaurant for adoptive families!) On the drive back to the hotel, it was Jason's turn to have Amanda fall asleep on him. BahBah was loving it!

We had the afternoon to ourselves and we realized that we're quickly running out of entertainment options  to fill our last week here. However, we did discover a toy store at the top of the mall across the street today, so that was a big hit! We've been filling a lot of our "free time" here with meals out... we've tried many different places including several Chinese restaurants, Italian, and even Pizza Hut and McDonalds! I'm going to have to figure out a way to get back on a regular diet pretty quickly after I get home - the jeans are getting snug! :) 

It was fun hanging out with the other families today and hearing their stories. They both have actually adopted before, so it's been really interesting to hear their past experiences and how their current one compares. Their children are all just beautiful. It's such a joy to see how different the kids all are and watching their personalities come alive under all this new attention. 

Amanda is learning more and more every day. She loves to give kisses all the time now and even repeats back to us "Waw eye nee" (Chinese for "I love you"). But even better, today she started saying it in English too - "I sha yo". ;) She's amazingly well potty-trained - even though she's had diarrhea until today, she's been completely clean and dry except at nap time and bedtime. But, this had also led to some interesting public potty experiences. As I mentioned before, that can be an adventure. Typically there are only squatty potties, so it can be a challenge helping a little three-year-old get out of one pant leg (without her foot touching the not-so-clean floor) so she can squat over the toilet without messing up her clothes. It's been a big learning curve, but I think we've got it down now! 

It feels odd that it's New Year's Eve here and will officially be 2012 in just a few hours - hard to believe we'll be ringing in the New Year before our boys!  Our celebration will consist of some wine, a DVD episode of 24, and sleeping in a room with our sweet baby girl. Low key, but likely one we won't forget! Happy New Year!

"Another Day In Paradise"

Remember the Phil Collins song "Another Day In Paradise"? "Oh, think twice, it's just another day for you and me in paradise" were the words of the chorus. That's the song that was playing on the radio as we drove away from Amanda's orphanage today and keeps running through my head as I reflect on this day. We thought long and hard before deciding to bring Amanda with us to her orphanage, but we think it ended up being a very good decision and experience for all of us. It was important for both of us to see firsthand where she spent the first few years of her life. Dongguan City Children's Welfare Institute is one of the best orphanages in China according to our guide (who has over 13 years of experience with orphanages all over the country). Here's the front of the building -

We first visited the "Sunshine Academy" Preschool, which was brand new and beautiful. It's only two months old, and that's how long Amanda had been there. The classroom was bright, clean and colorful with lots of toys and books. The teachers and kids were all excited to see Amanda when we walked through the door - and the kids especially loved it when she began to hand out candy! The director of the school was telling us how "verbal" she is and how she's always friendly and loves to be around people (yup, we've seen that!) Another director at the orphanage said she's happy and loves to be loud, thrown up in the air, and has a "very higher voice" (yup, we've seen that too!) However, Amanda was very quiet for the most part while we were in the preschool, but still interacted with her teachers and friends. She didn't act upset or scared, just more quiet than usual.

We got to see where she slept - on the lower bunk next to a window, in a room with 6 sets of bunk beds, all donated by a local construction company. It was bright and clean and looked like a really great place (relatively speaking) to be. We also saw their bathroom - complete with both western-style kiddie toilets (on the right) and Chinese squatty-potties (on the left):

We then headed over to a different building to meet and take pictures of a little two-year-old boy whose parents are part of a Yahoo group I subscribe to for that orphanage (they should be getting him in a little over a month!). It was an older building and felt far different. It was darker and far less stimulating than the preschool area. There were no toys in the room, and a TV on the wall was blaring when we walked in. The kids looked much more frightened and stoic than in the preschool area. After I got some pictures and video of the little boy, our tour was over. Amanda also had a much harder time there. She didn't readily go to the people working in that room - and when she did the one time, she started crying. Jason quickly snatched her back and was able to immediately calm her down. The biggest positive from the entire orphanage experience was that she clung to us and sought us for reassurance. We left shortly after that. As I walked out of that room, it hit me that a room like that was where Amanda likely spent the other two and a half years of her life. It was heartbreaking and about all I could do not to break down and cry. Gratefully as soon as we were out of the room, Amanda was back to her sweet, smiling, giggling self - even giving BahBah unsolicited kisses! As we walked out of the orphanage gate, we took video of the surrounding area, as somewhere in that vicinity was her "finding place." Even though Amanda had no idea of the significance, it really meant a lot to me to see where she'd been left - right outside the gate of one of the best orphanages in China. I imagine her mother knew she'd be well taken care of there and decided it was worth the risk of being caught, which speaks volumes for the love she must have had for her daughter. God gave us a great charge when He placed her with us - what an incredible gift!

Here's a picture of us outside the gate - as you can see, she was all smiles again. ;)

As I'd mentioned before, as we drove away from the orphanage, "Another Day In Paradise" was playing. It's a song about how we go through our days enjoying our comforts and conveniences, while ignoring  the poverty that surrounds us. It brought tears to my eyes as I thought about how only 80 of the 800 kids in this orphanage get adopted each year. And how grateful and blessed we feel that we're able to adopt even one.

After an emotional, yet overall positive day for all of us, we got back in the car for our hour-long drive back to the hotel. And the best part of the whole day (maybe the whole week?) was Amanda falling asleep on me. Heaven. ;)